On Canada’s Freedom Convoy
THE media has not attempted to portray the truckers partaking in the freedom convoy as being a part of a rebellious subculture unique to trucking because they would be mischaracterizing an entire division of labor. The media and Prime Minister Trudeau, for the purposes of damage control, had to instead refer to the truckers as a “fringe minority” to insinuate that people protesting against infallible mandates are insubordinate to a pathological degree. Government yes-men do not explicitly say that their mandates are infallible because that would sound absurd even to the most subordinate of persons. They have to instead give the viewers the impression that abiding by obviously flawed mandates is the most sensible thing to do given the circumstances even though the mandates themselves give one the impression of infallibility.
A spontaneous comradery has emerged within the trucking industry after many truckers, who were once immune to coercive public health measures until the vaccine passport was introduced, were confronted by government officials telling them to quarantine after crossing the border even though the health officer must have reasonable suspicion in determining if one has a communicable disease. Reasonable suspicion differs from whimsical suspicion in that the health officer has reason to suspect disease through observing ones symptoms.
A bad cough does not indicate disease because the health officer can only infer that one is ill if he appears to be debilitated. A cough, excessively runny nose, red eyes or a red face indicate inflammation, but they do not indicate disease. The notion of minister X having unlimited powers due to vaguely written legislation falls apart when we realize that reasonable suspicion is a substantial factor in determining when one should be arrested and jailed for unjustified insubordination. The convoy, on the other hand, is an exercise in justified insubordination because truckers realized that it is better to dissent as national symbols as opposed to rigidly self-interested dissidents within their own profession. Most sane persons, regardless of their political allegiances, can appreciate the mundane beauty of a maple leaf much like how most sane people can appreciate people making sacrifices out of symbolical charity.
The truckers, like the maple leaf, have become universally relatable in their quest for nationwide freedom because they represent the working class as opposed to the celebrity class. The celebrity class, those who are commonly called grifters, represent a body of narcissistic individuals who market themselves by-way of publicity stunts, half-truths, over-exaggerations and by profanely insulting and slandering those who comply because the compliant are not “real” men compared to them. These celebrity activists consist of people who are on disability benefits when they appear to be able bodied, flat earth believers, those who have vowed to “swing” at any police officers who approach them only to fold when the time to “swing” comes, ex-convicts and new convicts who, despite being legitimately found guilty for defamation or assault, are automatically praised by lay apologists who oversimply what it is for something to be corrupt and have attempted to crowdfund hundreds of thousands of dollars for unspecific or faulty reasons.
Some of these people are so conceited that they will turn against their own followers and wider society by assuming the most unappreciative and vitriolic of attitudes towards them. I have seen videos of these activists arrogantly insulting their followers for not knowing the details of event X and will then generalize by saying that Canadians are pathetic and docile even though they, the social media activists, gratify their narcissistic urges through speeches that stimulate an already excitable crowd consisting of people who have more net success in life than they and work tirelessly to maintain a family and a house.
Fringe activists represent false righteousness in that they may be true about Coronavirus mandates being a by-product of corruption(a truth that is obvious to those who are slightly more perceptive than others), but will substract common decency from their character by hurling expletives at security guards in the mall and auto-condemn businesses complying with mask mandates because they lack the skill of insight; that is, the ability to understand and relate to the unique circumstances and lived experience of others and how that person came to be in such a precarious position. On the lower end of the chain, local activist groups, groups that are comprised of people who are not famous but can politic their way to the front of the line with adolescent persistence, have disintegrated due to in-fighting because of such people. This in-fighting has been caused by a conflict of visions as it relates to who ought to lead the protest and what direction they should take. I have seen those were looking to profit off of the protests create their own platform by branding Coronavirus mandate-related events with their logo-the same logo they brand their t-shirts, sweaters and hats with. I have also attended smaller protests that had, for lack of a better description, a clubhouse atmosphere to them in that no one could influence the direction of the protest outside of the leaders social circle. I have seen protests that were nothing more than glorified street parties consisting of a couple hundred people in what was a failed attempt at sending a message of dissent but succeeded in stimulating the chaotic passions of the organizers.
The Canadian-born convoy to Ottawa, which has go on to influence convoys in other countries in a matter of weeks, has inadvertently destroyed the superiority complex of the narcissistic activist and the notion that Canadian-style politeness hampers rebellion. Insubordination through peaceful assembly is a type of rebellion which merely requires an overwhelming physical presence. The convoy has super-imposed itself onto Ottawa without any need for violent offense to influence change. It exemplifies firmness over ferocity. If the tension between the truckers of the convoy and the government could be metaphorized by imagining them as two arm wrestlers, then the government would be trying to pin the arm of the convoy whereas the arm of the convoy would be immovable. The arm of the convoy doesn’t just represent truck drivers, it represents wider society because the government has alienated working class people who work in numerous industries. By working class, I do not speak of those who fall within an annual income bracket, I speak of those whose work ethic is an integral part of their profession to ensure high productivity. The job of the employment lawyer is not as physically demanding as the job of the diesel mechanic, but it still requires a strong work ethic to deal with all the ex-diesel mechanics who need legal representation after having been fired for refusing a vaccine.
The media, not being able to give weight to the fringe minority narrative, have switched to a narrative that criminalizes the convoy without establishing exactly what laws were broken. The Ottawa police, not wanting to disappoint their Federal employers, have in a theatrical tone of voice described the convoy as an “insurrection” even though there is no physical violence taking place. The police may not know what they are enforcing, but that is of little importance to the authoritarian mindset because they simply want to physically remove the disobedient. Their disdain for the disobedient is as rigid as military-style discipline with its intense desire to create a soulless system of perfect orderliness. The authoritarian thinks of order as structure that must be organized by man in a world where common sense morality is an illegitimate construct created by simpletons who are not entitled to question the law.
These simpletons are you, me, the truckers, and anyone else outside of the government who does not have the so-called qualifications or the expert consensus behind them to critique a law that is so clearly idiotic. Child labor, the forced migration of English orphans (known in Canadian history as the British home children), slavery in general and prohibition was facilitated by laws that deliberately excluded the principles of natural justice. Moral theories come about when one uses the intellect to understand how morality develops from an instinctive feeling to ethical codes used to standardize ones conduct in a formal setting.
Common sense morality, a sense of right that does not need to be taught because it corresponds to feeling more than thought, is not something that needs to be structured or codified. It is a part of spontaneous order in that society is able or organize itself without any conscious coordination or principles. Our morals come from our spirituality; that is, pure intuitions about right which precede moral reasoning. Had the truckers who joined the convoy become lost in thought when assessing risk, they would have either retreated or would have remained indefinitely undecided in their actions. The truckers, instead of overthinking what could happen, answered a basic question that emerged from their conscience which simply asked them, ‘when should we act?’ A widow may have heartbeat-like nervousness when scaling a mountain to spread her husbands ashes at the highest peak in the land, but once she eventually starts to climb the mountain, the metaphysical dread that her imagination instantiated is no longer relevant because anticipated fear does not correspond to what she experiences when the mountain is made to feel more accommodating then intimidating. The convoy represents a decline in people fearing the invisible. In short, the emperor has no clothes.
End.
